


Typhlotic Liaison

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blind Character, Car Accidents, Caretaking, Death is mentioned quite a lot in this fic sorry, I need happy Eremins in my life, Just some fluffy stuff, M/M, Painter! Eren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-06 06:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3125201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren Jaeger is just some regular college kid, selling his gruesome art to earn the money for a studio where he could further work on his masterpieces and finish the painting he'd been trying to for almost four years. He lived with his boring sister in their boring apartment filled with boring trophies that of course didn't belong to him but to Mikasa and the only thing he found interesting was just that. Absolutely nothing. Other than his work.<br/>Mikasa was just as described, an athlete. An athlete that tried to do community service whenever she could because she had lost people in her life and didn't want to leave people alone in that time in their life, which Eren only found cheesy until she was suddenly locked into work when she had promised to be the caretaker of the young Arlert boy across town when his grandfather was starting to pass his golden years and the only one left to watch over him was none other than the brunet himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

The digital alarm clock blared through the, at least moments ago, soundless room that had startled the boy asleep in it. It did this every morning, yet he was never prepared for it. He reached out and felt around the desk before finding the alarm clock, and feeling around the alarm clock button that shut off the sound, and then he would have to get up and find more things around his little room in a whirlwind of just finding things that would probably never end as long as he had the life and eyes that he did. 

"You up, Armin?" He heard his grandfather call outside his door about six minutes later, just like he does every day. 

 

"Yes." He'd called back, just like he does every day, and then his grandfather walked away.

 

Armin felt along the selection of shirts and sweaters in the closet in front of him. He had to dress a bit nicer than he usually did today, he decided. Today was a different day than any other. Today he was meeting someone new, a girl that had signed up to be his caretaker and he was officially getting to meet her that day, and looking like a slob that couldn't dress himself was definitely not the first impression he wanted to make. Each of the hangers holding his clothes had a label on them, the color and style of each item written in Braille so that he could get at least an idea of what he was wearing. Plus, he'd had some of these clothes even before the accident, which he always labeled as his favorites. No use keeping them that long if they weren't, anyway. 

 

After countless minutes of trying to decide what to wear, he decided that trying to dress up wouldn't matter in the end because she can't physically look into his closet right now and she what's 'dress up' clothes or just something he'd wear casually, and stuck with a simple white sweater and pale jeans. 

 

He then grabbed his 'seeing-eye cane', as the doctor so very childishly called it, that he never used, but liked to have, and folded it up to where he could stick it in his pocket. He wasn't sure why he cared for it so much as to how the day would be different without just feeling it against his thigh, but he wasn't going to go into details, he was probably already running late just wondering what sort of plans that day held. 

 

He called a cab and sat outside on the porch step, his leg bouncing up and down with excited anticipation. Usually, he wasn't this excited to have somebody to care for him, he really did want to as independent as he could be, but she seemed like a nice person, and he had been feeling pretty lonely lately after starting college online instead of doing it at an actual university, so a friend was exactly what he needed. Plus, his grandfather was getting older, much, much older. At almost 70, they don't expect him to survive all that long despite him being that of a healthy man. His doctors just needed him to have someone to look after him if his grandpa happened to pass sooner than later. 

 

That wasn't that happy of a thought as gaining a friend, though, so he tried his best to just push it out and away from his mind. 

 

The taxi arrived after about fifteen minutes, and he told the driver the address of the coffee shop they were meeting at as he managed to climb into the back seat without tripping over something, and he drove to it without speaking a word. The blond handed over the money and climbed out, heading over to the first coffee table he felt that he knew was empty, as the sound of other people's voices were dimmer in that spot. He wondered when she would show up, Mikasa, the girl. What does she look like? He wondered if she was taller than him, but then again he was kind of a small guy and most everyone he met was taller than him, even if not by much. 

 

Quite some time had passed and she still hasn't shown up. Had he come early? He never did ask what time it was before he left, but his alarm was set for eight in the morning and he had to meet her at ten. Maybe he was late. He was feeling more confused and frustrated than excited at this point until a light hand tapped on his shoulder, startling him. "Are you Armin?" Said a voice to his right, obviously belonging to a male, and he could sense a hint of German in his speech. Armin nodded slowly, slightly confused as to why this guy was here instead of Mikasa, who he was expecting. "I'm Eren, Mikasa's brother." He could hear him sit down in the chair across from him. Not that he didn't mind the company, but why was he here?

 

"Where's Mikasa?" His voice was smaller than it usually was, but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with not being able to see who he was speaking to. In the three years he hadn't had sight, now he felt like he wished he knew. 

 

"She said she emailed you about it." Eren said, his voice faltering awkwardly, as if both sides of this conversation were now more than slightly uncomfortable.

 

"I didn't check my emails this morning.." The blond replied, wanting to smack himself in the forehead. 

 

Eren laughed lightly, noticing the irritated look on the boy's face. "Its okay, I can go if you want."

 

He thought for a second, but then found his own fingers under the table, tapping his nails together. "No, it's fine." He turned his head in the direction where he figured the coffee place was. "But I do kind of want something to drink."

 

"I'm not your secretary, Armin." He teased despite pushing his chair back to stand. 

 

"Fine, fine, I'll just go accidentally spill boiling hot coffee over myself or some stranger that hopefully won't mind third degree burns." Armin joked back, leaning on one of his hands and grinning at where the other boy's voice seemed to be coming from. 

 

"Uh, I think not." He replied, and then left a trail of the light sound of footstep behind him as he walked off in the direction of the cafe, and it was as if all of the tension had just faded away with it. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh no, hell no." Eren shook his head quickly, his messy hair falling over his forehead as he did. 

"Eren." His sister persisted, closing her second suitcase and trading it with the third empty one. "It's only a few months. Six or seven at the most."

The boy furrowed his brows as he handed her the red scarf she always wore, originally to pack but she simply wrapped it around herself like she usually did. "What if I don't know what to do? I've never taken care of a person before, let alone a disabled person."

Mikasa folded up some clothes, resting them peacefully along the bottom of the suitcase. "Don't think of him as a disabled person, just think of him as an abled person that needs a little help and probably will for a while."

"That's what a disabled person is." He raised his eyebrows back to their normal spots on the near top of his face.

She shot him a look. "You're taking care of him for a few months and that's final." She shut the suitcase and locked it closed, igniting the condescending 'okay mom' he muttered under his breath. "I'll call you when the plane lands."

"Alright. Bye, Mikasa." He sighed, falling back onto the couch behind him with a less than clumsy landing after his sister had closed the door, and pulled his arm up to glance at his digital watch. In about one hour he needed to go out to a coffee shop he's never heard of, meet this boy he's never known, and then proceed to help him get around for six, maybe even seven months. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if he didn't make it one, but he really didn't want to devote the time he could be using to work off the money to pay for an art studio to 'take care', whatever that means, of this guy that seemed to do well enough on his own from what he's heard. He'd heard enough times from other people and now he was saying it to himself, keep an open mind.

Eren groaned, flopping off of the couch and back onto his feet. What could he do in an hour to pass the time? He glanced lazily over to his easel in the corner, that same picture on it that had been on it for the longest time. That picture had been there for years, yet he didn't know what it was. Who it was. Who /they/ was. Er. Are. It was just something that was progressively falling out of his mind each day for 1,460. It was different than the art he usually made, which was more colorful and scenic, whereas this painting was dark, violent, with obvious hints of blood here and there, which was starting to look less like hints and more like pools the further it progressed. 

When he'd started Mikasa was worried for him, wondering why he'd suddenly started painting such a violent work of art, but he always replied with a blunt 'I don't know'. Now, he understood why. It was nearing its close and he was suddenly worried what it would be like to not have it sitting there but up in a shop, or if he were lucky, a gallery somewhere? He'd gotten so used to it being in the corner that he wouldn't know life without a random flame of idea licking the inner edges of his mind. 

Nonetheless, he strolled on over to his art supplies an continued on with that same painting, the same painting he'd worked on every day for four years, moving along the canvas in the same swirling dark red shades he always uses, and it was that painting, all the same, yet the more he added, the more different it looked. 

He'd stopped painting after getting enough of it on his shirt to not recognize it, stepping back to look at his work. Paint was etching closer and closer to the corners of the canvas and it was making him uncomfortable, but also excited to see the finished product of this piece of art. 

Eren glanced down at his watch, huffing as he still had thirty minutes left. He wanted to go to his bedroom to get dressed so he wouldn't have to rush and quickly run out when the time came but even he knew he wasn't going to accomplish that today or any day for that matter, so he traveled to his refrigerator and got out the first frozen dinner he saw, not having the time or energy to make a real meal and lazily shoving it in the microwave. It had hit him yet again that he was going to have to watch after this kid for months. Months. He didn't even know him, hell, he didn't even know what he looked like. All he knew what his name, Armin Arlert, and even he didn't know if that was enough to find him.

After about a minute, he shook his head, deciding that he really needed to stop complaining about this whole thing. This guy definitely had it worse than him, and hey, if a little help was what he needed, he'd try to help if he could. The microwave went off, indicating that his food was done, and he took it, grabbed a fork, and sat down at the kitchen table. He glanced down at his watch again, about fifteen minutes had gone by. How far away was this coffee shop? Like ten minutes? 

 

The coffee shop was not ten minutes away, in fact it was twenty more minutes than that away, and the fact that the people on the road didn't think that traffic laws were a thing. He tended to get frustrated while driving above all else but he did all he could to be composed and he only honked his horn once and didn't even scream at someone. Mikasa would be proud. 

When he arrived at what he figured was the little coffee shop, he looked around at every possible person bustling around that could possibly be who he was looking for. He'd really wished Mikasa had a picture of him so he wouldn't have to search around the much too many for this little place's crowd. He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking into the shop. 

After asking quite a few people if they were the one he was looking for, only resulting in an awkward, 'no, sorry' from many, and hearing an occasional sarcastic 'yeah obviously because I'm just the talk of the town aren't I', preferably much more than he wanted to, he noticed a blond haired boy sitting at an outside table, by the window. He had nothing in his hands, and a little frown came onto his pale face occasionally but he did nothing else. 

Eren stood from where he had flopped over onto a seat in defeat, walking, almost rushing, to where the smaller boy was sitting. He reached out his arm and lightly tapped on his shoulder, only getting him to flinch but not look in his direction. "Are you Armin?" He asked in confidence, and almost felt relief being poured over his head when he nodded, though slow. "I'm Eren, Mikasa's brother." He told him, taking the seat across the table. 

"Where's Mikasa?" Armin asked quietly, his pale blue eyes staring blankly forward. It almost felt unnatural looking at them. They almost looked dead, as if any life they previously had were just sucked right out of him, and he wouldn't admit it, but it made him a bit sad. 

"She said she emailed you about it.." He scratched his cheek, ending his sentence slowly, as if he didn't want to finish it. 

The blond frowned, obviously frustrated at himself. "I didn't check my emails this morning." His round eyes narrowed as he spoke, but his gaze stayed bone straight.   
"It's okay," He reassured him, folding his arms. He'd noticed the annoyed look on his face and sat back up, no longer slouching as if his posture really mattered. "I can go if you want. "

His expression went thoughtful, his eyes cutting from their stare to steal a quick glance to where he figured he was, which just happened to be a bit too far to Eren's left. He moved his arms off of the table and linked them underneath it, playing with his nails. "No, it's fine."  
A soft smile came to the brunet's face as he watched him fumble through his thoughts for words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my chapters are so short but at least im updating please dont sue me


	3. Chapter 3

After about ten minutes of finger tapping, dramatic sighing, and the background bumble of baristas bustling about, Eren returned less than happy but with a hot coffee in each hand. He sets Armin's down next to his hand and then sits back on his little spot across the table.

He pats to the side a bit, until he has his hand around the foam cup and tightened his grip around it. "Have fun?"

"No." The brunet huffed, the cup against his lips muffling his speech.

He laughed a little, lifting the cup and feeling his other finger around the edge of the lid for the opening. "How packed was it?"

"I was in line for thirteen minutes. That's how packed." He replied less than gladly, but less irritated than he'd been a moment ago. "But I made it out alive."

"Well good. I'm glad." He moved the cup up until his lips met his fingers over the lid, moving them to let the coffee into his mouth now that he could find it.

"Yeah." He could almost hear the smile in his voice, which he smiled back to without hesitation. The air went completely silent save for the people bustling around and the occasional small conversation between friends at a seat he could barely hear in the back of his mind. He tapped the styrofoam with the edge of his nail, directing his sightless eyes in any direction other than straight forward. He focused them back in Eren's direction when he cleared his throat. "So...what do you do? I mean, if you work that is." His voice lowered with each word until it drifted off completely.

"I'm in college." Armin told him, swirling the cup in circles in his hand. "Online. Textbooks. That kind of stuff."

"Oh, me too." He replied, then added. "But not, you know, online."

He smiled at the other boy. "What, is this your first conversation in ten years? You seem nervous."

He snorted. "Me? Nervous?" He tilted back, the chair creaking subtly with his movement. "You've got the wrong guy." He barely managed a second off his word before stumbling and letting the chair legs bang back onto the ground, smacking his knee into the table as he regained his balance.

"Wow. I apologize for even letting the thought cross my mind." He set down the cup on the wobbling table, a wide smile practically plastered onto his face.

Eren laughed, for a little while longer than he should have, and then cleared his throat, a second before his phone sent off a message tone. Armin waited, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek against his palm as the other got out his phone and swiped around until he found his text messages. He muttered the words under his breath as he read, and the blond smiled ever so lightly. He groaned, typing back a reply and then standing up. "Krista needs help putting some new art up at her gallery."

"Oh, okay." He said, leaning off his hand and sitting back.

"Don't sound so disappointed." He teased, the grin on his face once again obvious in his voice. "Mikasa also emailed you my phone number."

He felt his cheeks heat up, praying to whoever was listening that his face was it's same pale complexion. "I'll call you then."

He had walked off, his footsteps getting smaller and Armin's position slumping over a bit more as he did. Then he sat up, letting out a groan that he didn't care about anybody hearing before standing up and getting out his phone to call up a cab.

 

Armin flopped over onto his desk chair with perfect aim, having gotten used to the position of the furniture in his bedroom.

He pressed the button on the computer until it booted up, then made the little dinging sound indicating it was loaded and ready for use. "Email." Armin said to it, followed by another whoosh leading him into his emails. It began to read the first one aloud, and he leaned against the desk to listen to it. The robotic voice read out the email, which in fact was from Mikasa herself, explaining how she had to travel across the country for a sports game, and that her adoptive brother Eren was going to be taking care of him for the months that she was gone. She apologized and said she hoped his grandfathers health improved, and then ended it with both her and, of course, Eren's phone numbers. "Delete email?" Asked the computer. "No." Armin replied before pushing his chair back and standing up.

He head down the stairs and made his own dinner, and then food for his grandfather, heading back up the stairs and knocking on his door. He opened it up anyway, knowing it wouldn't matter because he couldn't see anything in the room, as brutally honest as it was. "I have dinner." He said aloud, earning a chuckle from his grandfather.

"Thanks, buddy." He heard him shuffle into a sitting position on his bed, his grandson not waking him up earlier this morning. A mistake on his part. He took the tray from his hands and set it on his lap.

Armin smiled, his blank eyes scanning the spaces his shaking voice was echoing off of the walls. He went back to the other room, gripping the railing as he walked downstairs to the kitchen where he'd left his plate of dinner. The blond picked up his plate and held onto his as tight as he did the railing on his way up, shuffling down the hallway to his same little bedroom he always spent his time in.

He ate up his dinner, playing an audio book through his headphones and into his ears. He finished up what he felt like eating, only having a few morsels of food left over, and turned off the audio book that had been on, and changed his clothes into something more comfortable to sleep in.

Armin shut off his computer, yawning and swirling around to crawl into his bed, closing his pale eyes and falling into a night's sleep.

 

The first sense he was awoken with was the sound of his alarm clock going off directly by his face, startling him into almost tumbling off his bed. He felt around once again, pressing the button when he found it. The morning was the same as every other one. No surprise there.

Instead of checking his computer, he decided to head off and take a quick shower, which went well until he has to get out and hadn't out a towel up on the rack and he had to run across the hall with no clothes on to the upstairs closet to get some, which went surprisingly well and he didn't have to cover himself from the shower demons in the hallway. He threw on a t-shirt that was on the floor, not bothering with the color, and then the same pants he was wearing before had hopped into the shower. It was then that he sat down at his computer to check his emails. No new ones, but he listened to the one Mikasa sent him the previous day over again, stopping to scramble for the landline as Mikasa's number was read off the screen, followed by her brother's, which he tapped the brailed stickers over the buttons in sync with the voice emanating from the speakers. He pressed call after the voice went off, waiting as the phone rang over the other line a few times before anyone actually picked up. _"Eren Jaeger hier, was ist das?"_ The man on the other line spoke in a language Armin didn't recognize, but assumed was German.

"Hi." Was the only thing he replied with, leaning back in his chair, crossing his legs on the seat.

"Armin! Hey." He switches back to a language they both would understand. Armin could hear him flop down on the couch, and then clearing his throat. "What's up?"

"I found your phone number in my emails so here I am. Calling you." He told him, the smallest smile creeping onto his lips.

Eren clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Keeping your promises, I see."

Armin simply laughed in reply, mainly because he didn't know what else to say but knew saying something would only make it awkward. "How'd it go with Krista?"

"Oh, it went okay." He said bluntly. "She said I might get to put up some of my art in her gallery if it gets big enough."

"You paint?" Armin was genuinely surprised. He didn't see Eren as somebody who would paint, but then again you never know a person until you ask them who they are. Just common sense.

"Have since I was a kid."

"Wow.." He tried to imagine what kind of things he painted. People or animals? Plants or skies? God, he couldn't decide what fit him. "Is Krista your girlfriend?" He asked him, genuinely more curious about that than anything else.

"Oh, no no." He could almost hear him shaking his head fast enough to snap his neck. "She's just a friend, besides, she's engaged. But thanks for caring enough to get jealous already." His voice was practically dripping with the smirk he was most definitely wearing.

Armin stuttered over his words, his face heating up instantly. "Oh be quiet." Was all he replied with when he found his voice, which earned him a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heres a nice kinda long chapter for you friends

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that this chapter is so short. Second one will be longer and will hopefully be up soon!
> 
> im not sure why it says that im on anonymous, nor do i know how to take it off (if anyone knows!!!! please tell me!!!!!!!!), but the owner of this novel is under the username of boytoynamedtroyler.
> 
> my tumblr is my-arminconda-dont.tumblr.com if you want to follow me i mainly post eremin because im garbage
> 
> have a nice day ilu


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